Dredging apparatus.



S. E. NEILL:&: B. HAMILTON. DREDSING APPARATUS.- APPLICATION l 'lLED APR. 8. 1915.

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STRANGE E. NEILL AND JAY B. HAMILTON, OF KANSAS CITY, KANSAS.

DREDGING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 8, 1916, Serial No. 89,798.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, STRANGE E. NEI L and J AY B. HAMILTON, citizens of the United States, residing at Kansas City,'in the county of Wyandotte and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dredging Apparatus, of which the following is a full and exact specification.

This invention relates to improvements in dredging apparatus, and particularly to a new and improved construction especially designed for the dredging of shells, shellfish and the like. One of the objects in view is to providea labor-saving apparatus for rapidly and economically dredging material of this character, and at the same time screening the shells, etc., to separate them from the waste or refuse.

It is also an object to provide a construction in which the waste material may immediately after screening be allowed to pass back to the bed which is being dredged.

A further object is to devise a dredge boat construction having simple and efficient provision for adjustment of the dredge parts for operation at varying depths.

With the foregoing general objects in view, the invention will now be described with reference to one form of embodiment of the same as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, after which those features and combinations deemed to be novel will be severally pended claims.

In the drawings- Figure 1 is a plan view of a dredging apparatus embodying the present improvements;

Fig. 2 is a view representing a vertical longitudinal section taken on the line IIII of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line IIIIII of Fig; 2;

Fig. 4 is a section, on a larger scale, taken on the line IVIV of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail section of the adjustable elevator head, taken on the line VV of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detail of theworm gear connection for adjusting the elevator.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the improved apparatus is illustrated as comprising a boat 2 in which is provided a walled waste or refuse passage or well, 4, through the bottom of the boat, and also a passage or well, 6, for accommodating the dredging elevator set forth and defined in the ap hereinafter described. The side walls of the passage or well, 4, are inclined as shown in Fig. 3, and the deck portions 8 of the boat,

adjoining said side walls, are inclined outwardly in order that the screened material received thereon will have a tendency to creep away from the screen rather than toward it.

Mounted over the waste passage or well 4 is a screen, 10, so arranged that its opposite side portions incline toward each of the op posite receiving decks, 8, with the lowerthe screen 10, and the opposite side edges of the platform extend in converging relation, and hence diagonally with reference to the opposite side portions of the screen, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 1. Deflecting boards 18 are provided at opposite sides of the platformv for guarding against any of the material being carried off said platform except by way ofthe screen. Operating over the platform 14 and lengthwise thereof is a scraper or distributing conveyer, comprising the side chains 20 and scraper flights 22, the lower run of the conveyer extending beneath the platform 14. f The chains 20 operate around the driving' sprocket wheels, 24, on a shaft 26, and-around idler sprocket wheels 28 on the shaft 30, which shafts are journaled in suitable bearings in the. framework at points adjacent the opposite ends 7 of the screen 10.

The. shaft 26 of the conveyer is equipped,

with adrive sprocket wheel 32 (Fig. 3) fitted with a chain 34 which is also carried around a sprocket wheel 36 on a countershaft 38 journaled in fixed brackets 40 that are bolted to inclined guideways 42 forming the support for the dredge elevator hereinafter described. The shaft 38 is provided with a sprocket wheel 44 driven by a chain 46 from a sprocket wheel 48 loosely mounted on a jack shaft 50 journaledin the standards 52 which are bolted to the deck of the boat. One end of said shaft 50 carries the sprocket wheel, 53, driven by a chain 54 from the engine, 56,any suitable clutch 58 being provided for disconnecting the drive fromnthe depth by manipulation of the clutch 106 and engine shaft.

The dredge elevator comprises the endless side chains, 60, equipped with the bucket flights 62, and operating around sprocket wheels 6% and 66 at the upper and lower ends, respectively, of the supporting frame 68 and driven by sprocket wheels 70 mounted on the counter shaft 38. The elevator is inclined in a manner to present its upper or delivery end in position to deliver the dredged material on to the platform 14. The shaft 72 which carries the upper sprocket wheels 64: is mounted in a sliding bearing block 74 which may be adjusted by the screws '16 for properly tensioning the chains 60. The supporting frame 68 is of I-beam form (see Fig. a) and of a size to fit snugly in the channel guides 42, the latter being secured by means of U-brackets 7 8 to the frame of the boat at the opposite sides of the well 6 through which the elevator is operated. To the web of the I-beam frame 68 is secured a rack 82 in mesh with a pinion 8 1 fixed to a short shaft 86 journaled in the bearing lugs 88. This shaft 86 also carries a. worm wheel 90 which meshes with a worm gear 92 on one end of a shaft 94: mounted in brackets 96, 98, on the boat deck, the opposite end of said shaft being provided with a bevel gear 100 in mesh with a pair of bevel gears 102, 10%, mounted idly on the jack shaft 50. By means of the clutch 106 the gears 102 and 10% may be alternately driven for rotating the pinion 84 in opposite directions for either raising or lowering the supporting frame 68 and thereby varying the depth at which the lower end of the elevator is operated in the bed 108 of the material being dredged (see Figs. 2 and 3). A clutch 110 is also provided for gearing the sprocket wheel 48 to the shaft 50 when the elevator and conveyer are thrown into operation.

From the foregoing it'will be apparent that an efficient and comparatively simple apparatus has been devised for carrying out the objects of the invention. The apparatus is specially designed and adapted for dredging in river beds or other points where mussel shells and the like may be found and which are of value in the manufacture of buttons and other articles. The work of gathering these shells has hitherto been done largely by hand, and the present invention affords a dredging construction whereby this work may economically be carried on by power and with great despatch, and for any desired capacity. With the shaft 50 set in motion by throwing in the clutch 58, the elevator is adjusted tothe proper working tinuously traveling conveyer slats 22.

driving the worm gearing in the required direction for this purpose, the clutch 110 being of course thrown out during this adjustment. The clutch 106 is then placed neutral, and clutch 110 is thrown in to drive the elevator and conveyer. The material from the bed 108 is thus elevated and dumped on to the platform 14 from which it is removed and distributed over both inclines of the screen 10 by means of the con- 1L mesh of screen is used such that the waste or refuse material passes on through and back to the bed 108, while the shells are re tained by the screen and move down its inclined surfaces to the receiving deck portions 8. /Vo-rkmen are stationed at these points for removing the screened material as fast as it accumulates, and the inclined arrangement-of these receiving decks facilitates the work of removing the shells and keeping the base of the screen clear of the same.

While the foregoing represents what is now deemed to constitute the preferred form of embodiment of the present improvements, the right is reserved to such changes and modifications as may fairly fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims: 7

1. A dredging apparatus comprising a boat having a well or waste passage through the bottom thereof, an inclined screen mounted over said passage, a receiving platform mounted over said screen with one edge of the platform extending diagonally with reference to the screen, a distributing conveyer operating over said platform, and a continuously driven dredging elevator mounted on the boat with its upper end in position to deliver the dredged material on to said platform.

2. A dredging apparatus comprising a boat having a well or waste passage, an inclined screen mounted over said passage with the side portions of the screen inclined in opposite directions for delivering the screened material to the deck of the boat on both sides of said passage, a'receiving platform mounted over said screen with the side edges of the platform converging and ex tending diagonally with reference to the screen, a distributing conveyer operating over said platform, and a continuously driven dredging elevator mounted on the boat with its upper end in position to deliver the dredged material on to said platform.

STRANGE E. NEILL JAY B. HAMILTON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing-the Commissioner of latents. Washington, D. 0. 

